Regional Championships Entered!

We're Ready for Championships!

The BHB's entry has been sent in for the Region 2 Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park in a month! It is going to be an enormous show as both of my regular classes (first and second level) have at least 50 people qualified to compete, my first level one has around 90! The qualification list for this show is astonishingly enormous, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were 500+ competitors at this show! It will definitely be the largest dressage show I've ever competed at... it may even be the largest horse show in any discipline! I entered him the the max number of classes possible to enter a horse at a Championship-- 4 classes! Two regular level classes (first and second level) and freestyles for those two level. 

After introducing some jumping back into the BHB's routine, I've had some wonderful forward rides on him. It ends up that he didn't need the vacation from riding as he was miserable and pacing the fence 4 of the 5 days he had off (I was told after I put him back into work), but I think he did need some more variety added back into his routine. I'm dying to take him out foxhunting, but after sending in a very large check with my Regional Championship entry, he's lucky he's not being bubble wrapped for the next two months! I told Heather yesterday that even if we qualify in all 4 classes for Nationals, we may have to eliminate at least one because of the cost to enter all classes (plus the $350 stabling and the likely $350 tack stall we will probably need-- or share if I'm lucky enough to find someone to split it with). For tack and feed for 4-5 days (and the bikes we take instead of a renting a golf cart), it's really almost necessary to get a tack stall to put it all in. Or else we're stacking around 3 bales of hay, a bucket of feed, all our tack, grooming tools, rider clothing, and more in the aisle way for that many days.

Second level freestyle

I forgot to share our second level freestyle now that the choreography and music timing is all worked out. This is a really exciting freestyle for me since it has so much potential to be awesome if we can really master the movements. The BHB gets a bit excited in the medium trot and doesn't always want to easily come back to do the travers right after, but we're working on it! There was originally a 3/4 turn on the haunches in the middle of the walk section, but I think eliminating it helps the BHB have a more relaxed walk. His amazing walk has not been so great in the show ring lately, so it might be a smart thing to do. The laziness shown in this video is why the BHB is currently on vacation and I'm crossing my fingers for cooler weather at Regionals!

Step 1 for Preparing for the Championship Season: Vacation

The BHB's current mental state

The last thing I expected to do six weeks out from Regional championships was give the BHB an entire week's vacation. Why did I feel it was necessary? Instead of his usual dragging me down centerline, the last two shows (two consecutive weekends) he's balked when I point him to go down centerline, even going so far as to spin around and try bolting once we made it to C. His freestyles this weekend were sluggish and I worked way harder than I should have. Why such a big change?! I went through all the possibilities and came up with 3 possible reasons why this was happening:

1. It was HOT at both shows! The temperatures during our rides ranged from around 85-103 degrees, with most ranging in the mid-upper 90s! Yet, I still couldn't rule out any other reasons on such a short timeline to Regionals.
2. Our cross-training routine has been overhauled since we moved to work with Heather. Instead of the 1-2 days of jumping and 1-2 days of hacking in a field weekly, the BHB has been doing 5 days of straight dressage in an arena. So maybe he's a bit bored getting drilled with dressage work. He's bred to be a cart-pulling, foxhunting, farming, jumping horse-- so I could see him getting bored with just one job to do! I'm planning on getting him out foxhunting some this winter after Nationals since I think we both miss it. We're working with Heather to implement more jumping and out of arena work into his regular schedule. I'm glad he's so solid in the dressage levels we're at, so drilling is not necessary. We just need to keep his fitness levels at least on par to his current state. Jumping should even benefit us in some of our weaker areas!
3. The BHB has been going 5+ days a week of dressage since March. He probably wants to spend some time focusing on ruling his jobless pony friends in the pasture ;). Everyone needs mental and physical vacations sometimes so they don't get burnt out on work. Heck, I need to go spend some time in the tropics this winter with the way my work schedule is looking! But that's not happening unless the BHB's budget is cut way down :(. 

So that's why the BHB has been on vacation since September 1st. I'm planning to jump and hack him outside the ring this weekend if it doesn't rain as much as predicted. Next week we'll add a couple intense dressage rides back in, interspersed with jumping and hacking sessions. After that, we'll do 3-4 days a week of dressage before Regionals, being careful to keep the BHB fresh and eager to show off his dressage skills. We've declared for Nationals in all 4 classes classes we're competing at Regionals, so hopefully that will be on our schedule too!

Why you should consider an Irish Draught for your next dressage horse!

Irish Draughts are safe, sensible, smart, sound, low maintenance, versatile, and full of personality! They are much less expensive than a typical warmblood too. Need I say more?

The BHB's registry

As an amateur I want to have fun when I go out to ride, and my Irish Draught makes that possible. I see other amateurs frequently battling (physically or mentally) with their horses, and I know just how frustrating that can be. My now-retired thoroughbred Blitz was the most amazingly athletic horse around... but there was no changing him no matter how much training I put in. If we made it one step forward in a ride, we'd have to start all over the next time. While it was a bit frustrating, in the end we could have quite a bit of fun out jumping as long as we had a strong bit and big fences to slow him down. He could have easily been an international level eventer in the right hands (those with money and strong arms) if he didn't frequently get carried away galloping at blinding speeds and forget he had a rider on him. Once he started having lingering suspensory issues, we tried to do real dressage, but I was always frustrated after lessons because we would work on the same basic things every single time without making any progress. 

On the other hand, with Mark I'm able to pick up exactly where we left off on the previous ride. He loves to work and learning new tricks is one of his favorite things. He definitely requires a rider that is going to give 100% and not let him cheat on certain things, but it's so refreshing to be constantly taking big steps of progression instead of being stuck in one place. He's quite a trainer favorite too since he's a safe, easy ride that rarely gets flustered. He has a high level of respect those who can teach him new things, and adapts to be a more forward and sensitive ride for them... while he enjoys being a kick-along ride for me. The only thing I hate about having an Irish Draught is that when I tell people his breed they always respond with "he doesn't look like a draft horse" (cue head smack). He may not be the fanciest horse, but some things are much more important to the average amateur rider-- safety and fun are at the top of my list! We do pretty well in the show ring too! And when we're not doing dressage, we can easily go off galloping with a foxhunt or jumping around the local jumper show. What more could you want from an amateur horse?

Here are a couple of my favorite Irish Draught stallions in the US that have competed successfully in dressage and have offspring available for sale:

Lionwood Kinsale's Lad-- Currently rocking the I1 level! Son of FEI dressage horse O'Leary's Irish Diamond!

KEC Double Diamond-- Competed at FEI levels!

And last but definitely not least-- The Pride of Gloster! The BHB's now-deceased sire. He sired some wonderful movers in smaller (~16hh) sizes.

The BHB is back to being a rock star!

The entries to our last two shows for the regular show season to try chasing qualifying scores for our (still in-progress) second level freestyle we'd like to compete with in the championship season. In 2 weeks we're heading to the August Aiken show to spend some time training with Amber, then the following weekend we're going to the GDCTA Labor Day weekend show. Busy times for the BHB!

The BHB has absolutely been rocking his training lately! Putting shoes on really did help him, despite his naturally gorgeous hooves. He's been able to really open up his shoulders and progress on his usual fast-track in his training with less resistance. He's working on muscling up a bit more too! He's finally understanding the concept of canter pirouettes with some exercises we've added in. I've been able to try them on him a couple times, and although it feels like I'm all over the place, evidently we've been getting some decent steps. My ability riding half passes in both trot and canter has been improving quite a bit too, and now my bronze medal doesn't look so far out of reach... although I'm still not ready to play with the lead changes much until we're done with this show season. He knows how to do them really well, he just currently ignores them when I ask him and has lots of anticipation when Heather tries for them. He puts a lot more effort into his work and is quite a bit more hot/sensitive when a pro rides him, so I'm hoping maybe the chill attitude he has with me will help with the anticipation.

My birthday present of new boots arrived this week and they fit perfectly! I ordered the DeNiro brushed leather dressage boots from Smartpak and they are gorgeously shiny! For a dressage boot, they are incredibly fitted through the ankle with softer leather, yet they still have all the other qualities a typical dressage boot would have. I think they will be easier to break in than most boots too!

So excited about my shiny new boots!

Mini-Clinic: Fixing the Hands and Arms

The BHB has been improving leaps and bounds since he had front shoes applied and a thorough massage to relieve any lingering body soreness. So in celebration, I thought I'd share some of the tips and tricks that have helped me improve as a rider.

I'm definitely not a professional or upper level rider, but I'd love to share the things that have made a huge difference in fixing my riding and position issues. My hands and arms are probably my weakest links in riding dressage, so I'm constantly trying to improve them.

1. Shorten the reins... all the time!
• When my reins get too long, everything starts to go downhill.
• The one thing that has made a HUGE impact on me recently was when Heather told me that the top international riders are constantly shortening their reins between movements and even during movements in their tests.  They've just perfected the art of shortening the reins to make it discreet enough so that neither people nor the horse really notice it. This changed my mindset of trying to keep the perfect rein length. Instead, now I'm trying to shorten my reins much more frequently!
• Think about whether you need to shorten your reins or not at every half halt.
2. Shoulder blades back and down
• If my shoulders roll forward, my arms straighten, so in order to fix this I have to think "stick the chest forwards/ upwards" 
3. Elbows at the side
• Obviously a big one for me! I seem to have a hard time getting to that perfect spot with my elbows. Most often I have them too straight, but sometimes I'll also have them too glued to my sides. The elbows should be just in front of being perpendicular to the ground, and the angle of the elbows can vary greatly upon rider build and horse front end build. 
• I hit the gym and do weight exercises that engage and strengthen my lats. There are a million options for these. You can do a search for "lat strengthening exercises" and find some that you have the equipment for. If you don't have weights/gym equipment, you can use straight arm planks  (make sure you "pinch" your armpits to engage the lats) and tricep push-ups to engage the lats (these differ from regular push-ups because you keep your elbows next to your sides the entire time)
4. Double reins reduce fidgeting
• For some reason when I have two reins to hold, my always-busy hands become quiet. I can't wait to see if this holds true at shows once I'm ready to show 3rd+ level where it's legal to use a double bridle.
5. Fingers closed
• I still struggle greatly with this since I want to have super open hunter fingers. I've tried all the "hold x between the reins and your fingers" tricks, but none of them have really helped me. Wearing stickier gloves makes it a little bit better, and grippy reins with stops help a tiny bit too. I'd love to see if anyone has suggestions for this. 
6. Be "side reins" to reduce movement
• In the trot, imagine your arms are creating the same connection as side reins would with the horse's mouth. Hold your hands steady in one spot and don't move them except to do open the rein to the side when needed.
• Holding a grab strap at the front of your saddle can help you distinguish when your arms are actually moving so you can increase arm movement awareness. 
7. Straighten the wrists
• These fix themselves when I have short reins and good arm positioning without tension. At one point in time I was ready to tape Popsicle sticks to my wrists to help with this though!
8. Stop bouncing arms
• If you fix all of the above and lose any extra tension you may have in your shoulders/arms, this should resolve itself.

Uncovering soreness... at a show!

For the past two months, the BHB has been a bit more sluggish and downhill than usual. For the most part we blamed it on the heat coming out, but after watching Heather ride Mark before our show 2 weeks ago, it became evident that he might be foot sore. He was super downhill and his front leg movement resembled a western pleasure shuffle while his hind legs were as snappy as usual. Lately, he's also seemed to digress in his training too and Heather has been struggling with the lead changes he's never had issues with before.

We had the hoof soreness confirmed by our vet who noticed that he seemed slightly off in both fronts while trotting on the lunge. The farrier also examined his hooves when he came out. The BHB didn't react to hoof testers, but his feet are so large that it's hard for anyone to get enough pressure on them! Evidently the footing in the arena we school in (crushed rock, all-weather type material) is making his feet sore. He has absolutely fantastic feet that have foxhunted in mountains and have worked in sand-based footing barefoot without an issue.

So... The BHB got his first pair of dance shoes this morning! I would love to have been able to keep him barefoot forever, but I obviously have to worry about his comfort first and foremost. He's going to have a massage next week to help work out any sore muscles used to compensate for his hoof pain. Then we'll hopefully be able to quickly work back to peak performance condition!

Getting his first pair of shoes!

Getting back to our show results-- I made the BHB do an energetic crawl through 3 tests this weekend before scratching the last. The first day we managed to get our last qualifying scores at first and second level for Regionals. So now we are qualified in 3 classes! If we manage to get a second level freestyle together in time to get qualifying scores, we'll go for a fourth class! I have a rough idea for the freestyle and 2 sets of music picked out that I have to choose from... so it looks like it could happen!